


The List

by Mersheeple



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gardening, M/M, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:41:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28339395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mersheeple/pseuds/Mersheeple
Summary: He had left Blaise a list. A very important list. A very important list, with diagrams and notations. And Blaise was still sure he had no idea what he was doing.
Relationships: Neville Longbottom/Blaise Zabini
Comments: 1
Kudos: 27





	The List

**Author's Note:**

> For Ariskari on tumblr! <3

He had left Blaise a list. A very important list. A very important list, with diagrams and notations and bloody _footnotes_ of all things. It was ridiculous and unnecessary. Except Blaise was ninety-seven percent sure he had absolutely no idea what he was doing.

_Point One: Do Not move anything unless it starts to eat its neighbours._

Well, that was easy enough. As long as the plants behaved, and wasn’t that an insane sentence, he would not have to worry about point one at all.

_Point Two: The Scadoxus acuminata and the Incarvillea scandens should be watered daily, with water from the chartreuse watering can._

Thankfully, there were accompanying diagrams that explained what the plants looked like. Unfortunately, there was no description of what ‘chartreuse’ meant. Blaise had had to speak to Draco for _that_ piece of information. Chartreuse was, apparently, the ‘yellowish green of mucus’ colour that turned Draco’s stomach. Fine. Blaise could do that.

_Point Three: The Schizachyrium kiautschovicus will need spraying with water in the spray bottle labelled SKBG, twice a day unless I am not back by the full moon. Then it will need spraying three times a day for three days after the full moon, and six times on the day of the full moon._

Again, another hunt through the greenhouse storage had left Blaise swearing up a storm. This was more of a challenge because he had never been very good at knowing when the Full Moon was expected. However, the handy tracker he had found in Neville’s study had alleviated his fears.

_Point Four: The Heliopsis yunnanensis and the Oenothera dracunculus do NOT need water. They will not drink it. DO NOT STEP TOO CLOSE!_

He had done that once before. Those were the plants that fed on liquids other than water. Horrible, creepy looking things. The problem was, they smelled too sweet. It lured people in and then they were at risk.

Points Five through Nineteen were all about various species of Nierembergia that Neville had bred, cross-bred or created. Blaise had looked at the copious amounts of drawings and nearly wept. He had no clue what any of it meant. Over-watering or under-watering seemed a certainty.

Points Twenty through Thirty-Six were all about the flowering plants outside the greenhouses, Points Thirty-Seven through Forty-Five were the non-flowering plants in the garden, and then came the three points about the trees around their property.

_Point Forty-Six: Fraxinus trees (all species) may need some shaking; do not use spells! Shake branches, not the whole tree. Climbing equipment in the office!_

_Point Forty-Seven: Prunus trees (both species) will need to be picked, the fruits must be crushed and juiced – juice for Honeydukes, leftovers (inc. stones) for S.S. Ask H.G. to collect._

_Point Forty-Eight: Tilia platyphyllos is nearly ready for Ollivander. If contact initiated – inform I will be in contact when home._

Blaise was trying very hard to follow all the points but things were so much more complicated than he realised. And he was working from home, an unusual feat in and of itself. It wasn’t like they had any children to worry about. Except Neville’s plants.

Neville had been away for a week and a half by the time the Prunus trees had to be picked, crushed and juiced. The sweet red fruits hung in pairs and Blaise wondered how to pick them simply. Was there a spell? Was he expected to climb the tree? Was he expected to crush them by hand? What was expected of him? It was too much. Blaise didn’t know what was expected of him. There was too much work to do, too many variables, too much that could go wrong. He would let Neville down and then Neville would kick him out and they would separate and he couldn’t let it happen.

He did what he had sworn he wouldn’t do. He called his Mother, begging her for help. Then he called Severus Snape, begging him for aid with the Honeydukes order as well as collection of the things he would need to deliver to H.G. Severus had laughed and said that most of the things he needed to deliver were to Severus himself and thus, that step could also be skipped.

While his Mother dealt with the garden, and his former Head of House dealt with the fruits for himself and Honeydukes, Blaise worked in the Greenhouse. He pruned back plants that were encroaching too far on their neighbours, he watered and sprayed and ran around like a headless Hippogriff.

He was too busy to notice when his Mother left. He was too distracted to leave when Severus took three bushels of fruit to juice at his own home. And, unfortunately for Blaise, he didn’t notice when he tripped over a vine that ran across the floor and landed near the Oenothera dracunculus. Too near. Practically on top of it in fact. The plants leaves opened up, its needle-like fronds sliding over his skin to find his veins as he struggled against it in a blind panic. He was counting down the moments until he would die when a pair of tanned, strong arms lifted him free of the plant and pulled him against a hard body. He whimpered in relief, tears spilling from his eyes as he realised that what mattered over everything was that he was safe. Neville’s arms were around him and he was safe…

“You found my list and decided to do everything didn’t you love?” Neville’s voice in his ear was soft and Blaise nodded.

“Did you read all the way through? To the last page?” Neville’s voice held a small amount of censure and Blaise turned in his arms, burying his head in Neville’s neck. He mumbled slightly and Neville chuckled gently.

“Blaise, love, the last page is the most important. Please take a look at it.” Neville pulled away and pulled the list from Blaise’s back pocket. Blaise immediately flipped to the back page and smiled softly.

_Point EVERY SINGLE ONE: It is ok to ask for help, I do often. I love you. Enjoy the peace and quiet for the next ten to fourteen days. Miss you already._

“Love you too.” Blaise mumbled softly against Neville’s lips as he pressed himself against his boyfriend for the kiss he had needed since the minute Neville had gone to work on the Hogwarts’ greenhouses ten days ago.


End file.
